Barnsley v Forest

A Henri Lansbury hat-trick inspired Nottingham Forest to a second away win on the trot as they won 5-2 against Barnsley.

A breathtaking first half saw Lansbury score twice and Apostolos Vellios also find the target, before Ben Osborn and a Lansbury penalty completed the scoring for The Reds.

Sam Winnall and Marley Watkins, who was later sent off, scored for The Tykes in the first half but it was Forest who left Yorkshire with all three points in a fantastic away performance.

Philippe Montanier was forced into making three changes to the side that won at Ipswich last week. Michael Mancienne, Danny Fox and Apostolos Vellios came in for the injured Eric Lichaj, Dani Pinillos and Britt Assombalonga. There was also a welcome return to the matchday squad for Nicklas Bendtner, David Vaughan and Matty Cash as they overcame injuries.

The opening 15 minutes of the match were action packed. Barnsley took the lead on five minutes as Forest were caught napping down the left. Full-back James Bree surged past Fox and hit a pin-point cross for Tykes top scorer Winnall to head past a helpless Vladimir Stojkovic from six yards.

It only took eight minutes for Forest to hit back as Ben Osborn bravely won a free-kick 30 yards from the Barnsley goal. Lansbury teed the ball off and struck a sweet strike which fizzed into the bottom corner past Adam Davies.

But Barnsley were even quicker to respond as a minute later they were back in front. A simple ball over the top by Conor Hourihane caught the Forest defence flat-footed and Marley Watkins was on hand to control and fire past Stojkovic for 2-1.

The game showed no signs of settling down and The Reds were level again on 24 minutes as Fox did superbly well to create the goal. The full-back linked well with Osborn before hitting a low cross to the near post where Vellios was waiting to turn home amid a sea of legs.

The game took a breather after that, with Barnsley dominating possession and Forest content on maintaining their shape and parity on the scoreboard. They Tykes looked particularly threatening from set pieces, creating a few half chances but not testing Stojkovic in the Forest goal.

But it was The Reds who would go into the break in front as Vellios won the ball well in the midfield in added time. He turned and fed Osborn on the left who crossed into the middle where Lansbury arrived to plant a header into the corner to put Forest 3-2 up.

The second half started at a slower pace than the first, but a similar theme was adopted as Barnsley were in charge of the ball. Winnall came close to equalising on 52 minutes as he headed a Watkins cross just wide and Josh Scowen fired over from the edge of the box a minute later as Barnsley could not find a way past the Forest back three.

Barnsley struggled to find a way through but Forest showed a clinical side that Montanier had been asking for as Ben Osborn extended the lead.

Vellios won the ball in the middle of the pitch and played it out wide to Mancienne who had the freedom of the right wing. He crossed in and Osborn arrived to glance a superb header into the far corner and past the dive of Davies.

It was 4-2 to the visitors and the home side made it even harder for themselves as Watkins was sent off on 67.

The winger fouled Thomas Lam on the halfway line and then appeared to stamp on the Forest man while he was on the floor. It was right under the nose of referee Oliver Langford and he did not hesitate to flourish the red card and reduce Barnsley to ten men.

The red card knocked the stuffing out of Barnsley and Forest took control of possession of the ball. The home side struggled to press forward to get back into the game and it was 5-2 on 82 minutes as Lansbury completed his hat-trick from the penalty spot.

Montanier introduced Bendtner and Cash from the substitutes bench and it was Cash who won the spot-kick as he pressed the Barnsley defender into a mistake, stealing the ball before being fouled by Scowen in the area.

Lansbury stepped up and sent Davies the wrong way, much to the delight of the fantastic away fans, to cap a brilliant away performance and seal back-to-back wins.